PARTIAL DENTURE
It is very important to replace missing teeth for several reasons;
· appearance.
· mastication or chewing ability.
· support of remaining teeth.
· support of an opposing full denture.
Without complete dentition, you may not be able to adequately masticate your food. Mastication, as opposed to biting and swallowing, involves mixing enough saliva with your food so that you adequately dilute your gastric juices, thereby reducing the risk of digestive problems. Remember when mum told us as kids that we had to chew our food slowly so that we didn’t get a sore tummy?
A partial denture, as the name suggests, is to replace some missing teeth in either or both the upper or lower arch. Sometimes a partial denture is required in one arch simply for appearance. More often it is required to improve mastication ability, but if remaining teeth are left unsupported, they may also drift sideways or over erupt making future replacement considerably more difficult.
The other major reason to wear a partial denture is to support an opposing full denture. As an example, where you have a full upper denture and only six remaining lower front teeth – a very common scenario – when you bite on the front teeth of the denture, you will tilt the back of the denture down. Also it is impossible to satisfactorily masticate food without full dentition.
· Acrylic Partials
· Valplast™ Flexible Partials
· Lucitone® FRS™ Flexible Partials
· Chrome Cobalt Cast Metal Partials
Acrylic dentures are the lowest cost and because of the ease of repair, reline or addition of further teeth, are generally advised where remaining dentition is doubtful or tooth loss is significant. Most acrylic dentures will have stainless steel retention, but in some cases that may not be necessary. Another retention option for acrylic dentures is clear or tooth coloured resin retainers.
· appearance.
· mastication or chewing ability.
· support of remaining teeth.
· support of an opposing full denture.
Without complete dentition, you may not be able to adequately masticate your food. Mastication, as opposed to biting and swallowing, involves mixing enough saliva with your food so that you adequately dilute your gastric juices, thereby reducing the risk of digestive problems. Remember when mum told us as kids that we had to chew our food slowly so that we didn’t get a sore tummy?
A partial denture, as the name suggests, is to replace some missing teeth in either or both the upper or lower arch. Sometimes a partial denture is required in one arch simply for appearance. More often it is required to improve mastication ability, but if remaining teeth are left unsupported, they may also drift sideways or over erupt making future replacement considerably more difficult.
The other major reason to wear a partial denture is to support an opposing full denture. As an example, where you have a full upper denture and only six remaining lower front teeth – a very common scenario – when you bite on the front teeth of the denture, you will tilt the back of the denture down. Also it is impossible to satisfactorily masticate food without full dentition.
· Acrylic Partials
· Valplast™ Flexible Partials
· Lucitone® FRS™ Flexible Partials
· Chrome Cobalt Cast Metal Partials
Acrylic dentures are the lowest cost and because of the ease of repair, reline or addition of further teeth, are generally advised where remaining dentition is doubtful or tooth loss is significant. Most acrylic dentures will have stainless steel retention, but in some cases that may not be necessary. Another retention option for acrylic dentures is clear or tooth coloured resin retainers.
